New Delhi, June 24: The bill the United Progressive Alliance government plans to introduce to replace the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976, will decentralise overseas funding and make it more user-friendly.

Non-government organisations and other associations seeking foreign contribution will not need to come to Delhi for their registration, which will be done at other centres ? probably all state capitals.

The government had yesterday decided to constitute a Group of Ministers to look into the formulation of a legislation to replace the FCRA, which had failed to check overseas funding of illegal and anti-national organisations. It also could not provide for the prosecution of such organisations.

“The proposed law would aim at facilitating the working of NGOs but, at the same time, it will try to ensure that foreign contribution is used for the purpose for which it has been received and is not diverted for some other use,” home minister Shivraj Patil said today while inaugurating a seminar on FCRA.

The home ministry is, through this seminar organised jointly with the Indian Council of Chartered Accountants of India, trying to build a consensus for the proposed bill that is supposed to plug loopholes in the FCRA. The government has zeroed in on various NGOs that are diverting foreign contribution for illegal activities and supplying money for subversive and anti-national activities, sources said.

“As a direct course of action can kick up a lot of dust and even spoil relationships with some donor countries, the home ministry has chosen this path to check the money flow for illegal activities. The new bill can close down many such NGOs,” said an official.